The premise of the show is the host visits a different US city each week, and indulges of the local "legendary food challenge". These challenges include:
- a 30-inch 11-pound Carnivore Challenge Pizza
- a 12lb meal of which includes 5lb hamburger, 2lb of bacon and cheese, 5lb of fries, and a giant pickle
- a 7lb Monster Breakfast Burrito
- 36 dozen Oysters
All of these food challenges are done in the name of TV entertainment, and the chance that you might win a T-Shirt and get your photo posted on the Wall of Fame - in all probability, future visitors to the restaurants will see the photos, shake their heads slowly and mutter under their breath phrases that sound like "Clucking Bell" and "Greedy Mastheads"
Sounds like riveting TV doesn't it? Well its like catnip, or a moth to a flame - you just can't help but watch it.
And to make it even more enjoyable/irreverent (delete as appropriate) you can play Man v Food Bingo.
There are common phrases used throughout all the shows.
I don't think I've ever yet had a full house, but have come close on occasion.
The common phrases heard are:
- Pulled Pork
- Ribs
- Brisket
- Pastrami
- Deli Sandwich
- Home Fries
- Coleslaw (often abbreviated to just 'Slaw')
- Barbecue (as above, often abbreviated to just 'cue' (obviously the fist syllable of these words just takes up too much time)
- Dry Rub
- Secret Spices
- Swiss Cheese
- American Cheese
Would this programme work in the UK?
I have rarely seen similar food challenges in the pubs, bars & bistros of the UK*, so perhaps not - but if a UK version is planned may I be the first to submit my application as host
* a pub local to me does have "the biggest plate of food in the local area" - a full 1kg of meat, plus chips & onion rings. This is a 3lb Meal, and in all likelihood the makers of Man v Food would just laugh at the comparatively meagre portions on offer.
Eating the gargantuan amounts of food is one thing, but the consequences need to be considered.
Charlie Brooker considers the "what happened next":
"But what I'd really like to see is what happens the next morning, when the show presumably turns into Man V Poo, as Richman empties the dauntingly substantial, hopelessly compacted contents of his engorged colon, clenching the bathroom doorhandle between his teeth as he attempts to give birth to a leg-sized hunk of fecal sod without killing himself. Cue footage of him sweating, shaking and sobbing like a man impaled on a clay tree, before eventually squeezing out a log with the dimensions and weight of a dead gazelle in a greased sleeping bag. As he mops his brow (and backside), he smiles weakly with exhausted triumph, whispers farewell, and the credits roll. And we've all learned something about the price of excess."
Charlie Brooker's Screen Burn: Man v Food (The Guardian, Saturday 13 March 2010)
And to show just what the burgers an offer are like, this is the Eagles Challenge from the Eagles Deli in Boston (the burger element of the 12lb meal mentioned above:
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